Group: IA officials stalling on birth certificates

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The state’s largest gay advocacy group is accusing the Iowa Department of Public Health of needlessly delaying listing both partners in married lesbian couples on their children’s birth certificates.

The group One Iowa tells the Des Moines Register (http://dmreg.co/16mQp7z) that lesbian couples are being directed to follow an affidavit process and provide certified copies of their marriage license. The group says that’s a process opposite-sex couples do not have to go through.

Mariannette Miller-Meeks, who heads the public health department, says it is in the process of establishing new worksheets and educating hospital staffs regarding lesbian couples and the filing of birth certificates.

In May, the Iowa Supreme Court ordered the department to start listing the names of both female spouses on the birth certificates of their children.